If our top pick isn’t available or you’re looking to save $50, the Yamaha P-45 is an excellent alternative. It was the favorite of one panelist, and the other three each ranked it second. It plays as well as our top pick, although I found the key weight to be a bit heavy for my tastes; it took a little more finger effort to play. Jack liked that heavier feel but could see it causing problems for beginners. Brent thought the action was about as good as it gets in this price range, and Liz thought it was easy to play.
By World War I, drum kits were often marching band-style military bass drums with many percussion items suspended on and around them. Drum kits became a central part of jazz music, especially Dixieland. The modern drum kit was developed in the Vaudeville era during the 1920s in New Orleans.[11] In 1917, a New Orleans band called "The Original Dixieland Jazz Band " recorded jazz tunes that became hits all over the country. These were the first official jazz recordings. Drummers such as Baby Dodds, "Zutty" Singleton and Ray Bauduc had taken the idea of marching rhythms, combining the bass drum and snare drum and "traps", a term used to refer to the percussion instruments associated with immigrant groups, which included miniature cymbals, tom toms, cowbells and woodblocks. They started incorporating these elements with ragtime, which had been popular for a couple of decades, creating an approach which evolved into a jazz drumming style.
If you’re a seasoned player, you already know that there is an expansive array of bass guitar types out there that’ll suit your specific musical needs. Sam Ash is proud to offer our fellow bassists the latest and greatest in bass guitars, from 4-string, 5-string, 6-string, 7-string, and even 8-string electric basses all the way through to acoustic-electric bass guitars that’ll be perfect for your next coffee shop gig! If you’re looking to add a bass to your collection that has a more traditional, standup bass kind of sound, be sure that you check out our assortment of fretless basses! Have a favorite bassist like Jack Casady of the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane, Geddy Lee of classic rock band Rush, or Flea of funk/rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers? We also offer a variety of artist and signature model basses that’ll help you deliver the legendary tone of some of the best bassists in the business! If you’re a lefty, there’s no need to worry—we have you covered with plenty of left-handed bass guitars for sale right here at SamAsh.com.
"Jazz" pickups (referring to the original Fender Jazz Bass), also referred to as "J pickups", are wider eight-pole pickups that lie underneath all four strings. J pickups are typically single-coil designs, though there are a large number of humbucking designs. Traditionally, two of them are used, one of them near the bridge and another closer to the neck. As with the halves of P-pickups, the J-pickups are reverse-wound with reverse magnetic polarity. As a result, they have hum canceling properties when used at the same volume, with hum cancellation decreasing when the pickups are at unequal volume, and absent if the player uses only one pickup. 'J' Style pickups tend to have a lower output and a thinner sound than 'P' Style pickups. Many bassists combine a 'J' pickup at the bridge and a 'P' pickup at the neck, so they can blend the two sounds.
I brought in several other pianists for our test panel. Liz Kinnon is a pianist/arranger/composer/educator from Los Angeles who has performed with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie and Andy Williams. She was an orchestrator on the animated shows Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Histeria. At the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, she teaches jazz piano and is the Director of Adult Jazz Combos. She was Ryan Gosling’s piano coach for La La Land and recently worked with Simon Pegg and Juno Temple for the film Lost Transmissions.

A drum kit — also called a drum set, trap set (a term using a contraction of the word, “contraption”), or simply drums — is a collection of drums and other percussion instruments, typically cymbals, which are set up on stands to be played by a single player,[1] with drumsticks held in both hands, and the feet operating pedals that control the hi-hat cymbal and the beater for the bass drum. A drum kit consists of a mix of drums (categorized classically as membranophones, Hornbostel-Sachs high-level classification 2) and idiophones – most significantly cymbals, but can also include the woodblock and cowbell (classified as Hornbostel-Sachs high-level classification 1).[2] In the 2000s, some kits also include electronic instruments (Hornbostel-Sachs classification 53). Also, both hybrid (mixing acoustic instruments and electronic drums) and entirely electronic kits are used.

Gear for Beginner Drummers: Cymbal Packs: an easy way to upgrade a drum kitComplete Drum Sets: everything you need to get rocking right out of the box!See More Gear for Beginner Drummers:Tama Drum SetsTama IP62NC Imperialstar Accel Driver Complete Drum SetSee More Tama Drum SetsPearl Drum SetsPearl RS525SC Roadshow Complete Drum KitSee More Pearl Drum SetsLudwig Drum SetsLudwig LC175 Accent Drive Complete Drum KitSee More Ludwig Drum SetsPacific DrumsPacific Drums Concept Maple Drum Shell Kit, 7-PieceSee More Pacific DrumsOther Acoustic Drum SetsLudwig LC178X Breakbeats QuestloveGretsch CM1E826 Catalina Maple Drum Shell KitSee More Other Acoustic Drum SetsSee All Acoustic Drum Sets
All cymbals other than rides, hi-hats and crashes/splashes are usually called effects cymbals when used in a drum kit, though this is a non-classical or colloquial designation that has become a standardized label. Most extended kits include one or more splash cymbals and at least one china cymbal. Major cymbal makers produce cymbal extension packs consisting of one splash and one china, or more rarely a second crash, a splash and a china, to match some of their starter packs of ride, crash and hi-hats. However any combination of options can be found in the marketplace.
Whereas Fender basses had pickups mounted in positions in between the base of the neck and the top of the bridge, many of Gibson's early basses featured one humbucking pickup mounted directly against the neck pocket. The EB-3, introduced in 1961, also had a "mini-humbucker" at the bridge position. Gibson basses also tended to be smaller, sleeker instruments; Gibson did not produce a 34-inch (864 mm) scale bass until 1963 with the release of the Thunderbird, which was also the first Gibson bass to use dual-humbucking pickups in a more traditional position, about halfway between the neck and bridge. A number of other companies also began manufacturing bass guitars during the 1950s: Kay in 1952, Hofner and Danelectro in 1956, Rickenbacker in 1957 and Burns/Supersound in 1958.[14]
In 1929, when the stock market crash resulted in a global depression, one of the things that helped people cope with the trying years was swing jazz music. By the early to mid 1930's, big band swing was being embraced throughout the US, becoming the country's most popular form of music. The other contributing factor to the big band's success during the 1930s was the popularity of radio. The drum kit played a key role in the big band swing sound. Throughout the 1930s Chick Webb and Gene Krupa at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, increased the visual and musical driving force of the drummer and their equipment by simply being so popular and in demand- and they ensured that their drum kits became not only functionally developed but dazzling and well designed.[14] Jazz drummers were influential in developing the concept of the modern drum kit and extending playing techniques. Gene Krupa was the first drummer to head his own orchestra and thrust the drums into the spotlight with his drum solos.[citation needed] Others would soon follow his lead.
The bare minimum requirements for a budget digital piano are to have 88 keys (the same number found on traditional acoustic pianos) and internal speakers to facilitate practicing without an amplifier. Beyond that, some amount of weighted key action (either semi-weighted or hammer action, more on this in a moment) and an accurate piano sound were the primary deciding factors for our picks. An included stand and sustain pedal were not requirements, as aftermarket options are readily available and inexpensive. (We discuss some options below.)

The sound of electronic drums and cymbals themselves is heard by the drummer and possibly other musicians in close proximity, but even so, the foldback (audio monitor) system is usually fed from the electronic sounds rather than the live acoustic sounds. The drums can be heavily dampened (made to resonate less or subdue the sound), and their tuning and even quality is less critical in the latter scenario. In this way, much of the atmosphere of the live performance is retained in a large venue, but without some of the problems associated with purely microphone-amplified drums. Triggers and sensors can also be used in conjunction with conventional or built-in microphones. If some components of a kit prove more difficult to "mike" than others (e.g., an excessively "boomy" low tom), triggers may be used on only the more difficult instruments, balancing out a drummer's/band's sound in the mix.

In the 2010s, some drummers use a variety of auxiliary percussion instruments, found objects, and electronics as part of their "drum" kits. Popular electronics include: electronic sound modules; laptop computers used to activate loops, sequences and samples; metronomes and tempo meters; recording devices; and personal sound reinforcement equipment (e.g., a small PA system to amplify electronic drums and provide a monitor).

In general, the sounds produced by a digital piano are based on sampling, by which real piano sound samples are stored in ROM. The samples stored in digital pianos are usually of very precision recording and made using high-quality pianos, expensive microphones, and high-quality preamps in a professional recording studio.[2] ROM may include multiple samples for the same keystroke, attempting to reproduce diversity observed on the real piano, but the number of these recorded alternatives is limited.